Team no More
by Morbid Mortality
Summary: It was an unforgiveable act, one that would turn all against her. Lies and webs of betrayal are spun and resurface. Naruto could not save her this time, she would have to save herself. It was the perfect set-up, and she would be forced to pay the price.
1. A Treachorous Trial

**(A\N: Well as you can see I have posted a new story, my other ones were….merely ends to a mean. I might continue then I might not. But I totally have dedication for this one so have no fear!! Anyway I don't really have much to say except I NEED A BETA!! :D that should get someone's attention…maybe. Hope you enjoy the prologue of Team no More.)**

**I do not own this story line or any of its original characters. We all know who this belongs to, so I own nothing.**

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**Chapter 1**

**A Treacherous Trial**

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"We will now hear the trial on Haruno Sakura".

The daimyo's voices were accompanied with the sound of chairs scooting closer to the long rectangular table. Postures straightened and fists were clenched.

At one end of the table the anger being given off was almost tangible. Tsunade grit her teeth and muffled her snarl at the two elders. She knew the truth, even if it wasn't what all the evidence and witnesses and every other bloody thing pointed to, but there were something's that the elders simply wouldn't reason with.

Tsunade looked outside at the grey sky, no rain had fallen yet, but she was sure that it would soon. Everything and everyone would share tears for the unfair acts that were about to befall upon an innocent soul.

The rest of the rookie 9 were seated around the table with the other officials, including Danzou. He would second any and all punishments as a way to get to her. Naruto, though, had to be personally detained by both Kakashi and Yamato. The boy had been enraged, furious, he had lost control, and now as the only true witness was detained, there was little to no hope for her precious pupil.

For once Tsunade felt as if there was absolutely nothing she could do, and she had wormed herself out of some pretty tight situations. But no one would come and save Sakura, not when no one believed her.

"Bring in the accused" .

The sound of a door opening was enough to make every head swivel around. Two anbu entered the room and stopped to stand by the door and guard it. The next person walked in with great difficulty and a painfully visible limp, the affects of the interrogation were blatantly obvious. Heads bowed, eyes clenched closed, and bodies turned away. Sakura Haruno walked into the vast room and raised her head.

Weary and betrayed eyes focused on each and every figure at the table, the daimyo, lesser officials, the clan noble heads, Neji, Hinata, Tenten, Lee, Shino, Kiba, Choji, Ino, Shikamaru, Shizune, and….Tsunade. She could feel tears well up in her eyes and closed her eyes. A bitter smile found its way to her face and she thought of her team. About how they never had a chance, about how all of their bonds had been severed, about how this was why she was here in the first place. Three of her teammates had turned their back on her.

Where was Sai? Where were Kakashi and Yamato? Sai had vanished, he had refused to either help or condemn her. Kakashi and Yamato were somewhere sealing off Naruto and all the ready to send her to hell. As for Sasuke….well he was probably laughing his ass off right now somewhere in sound about how his bastardly plan had worked.

It wasn't fair that all the other teams could rely on each other. It wasn't fair that no one believed her, it wasn't fair that all this shit was happening to her! Fuck Kakashi and his lies, never leave your team behind, it sounded nice, to bad he didn't follow his own advice.

It looked bleak, Naruto wouldn't come for her, not this time.

No one would

……

……

But somehow that was fine. There was nothing left for her here anyway. A broken friendship with Ino, the disownment from her father, the looks of betrayal from her once friends, a severed bond with her previous teacher and a new one filled with hate.

Not even the distressed helplessness from her mentor and best friend. Naruto would be Hokage soon, at eighteen years old he was both very handsome and capable. She would put his dream at risk, it was for the better that he wasn't here.

The sound of a throat being cleared broke everyone out of their own thoughts.

"Shall we begin?"

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**(A\N: Well there you have it. Yeah review an let me know what you think. I WOULD LOVE A DEVOTED BETA!!! That'd be awesome. Ill update soon.**

**Peace out.**

**Morbid.**

**REVIEW.**


	2. She said Believe in the dream

Wow, okay, I officially suck XD sorry for the ridiculously late update. But it's summer, YEAHHH!!! Okay well, Kishimoto-sama has not been making this easy for me, so many twists and turns!!!! Here it goes guys.

Team No More

Ch.2 She Said "Believe In The Dream"

"_Lets begin….."_

The statement seemed to hang in the air. The tension increased tenfold. It was surreal, like something in a movie, only in this case there was no super-hero defender. It would play out how the people in charge saw fit, it was their game, or no game. Sakura knew that Tsunade could only go so far.

But that was life, right? Her life had been everything but simple. Sakura turned her eyes as menacingly as she could towards the faces of those who were damn ready to condemn her, bastards. Perhaps it was her hysteria now that was kicking in, trying to lighten her mood by throwing in an attempt of crude, dark humor. She was screwed. She'd sat in that interrogation cell for _weeks_, if there was a solution, she would have found it by now.

…….

…….

But maybe it was because she _wanted _to give up. It was good while it lasted right? She closed her eyes and thought about all the times she felt like she had taken for granted.

_Sakura adjusted the picnic basket as she rose her hand to knock on Tenten's door. Footsteps answered her as a surprised and slightly nervous Tenten cracked open the door. Sakura saw relief instantly nestle itself in the brunette's eyes._

"_Oh, you scared me Sakura! I thought you were Lee with another 'youthful' present" a laugh fell out following her words._

_Sakura smiled and let out a small chuckle. "Oh god, I know what you mean, I have about a thousand frog…accessories, from Naruto. I feel for you about being the only girl on the team."_

_Tenten smiled and looked down towards the basket in confusion, "So then that's…."_

_Sakura quickly remembered why she was here and held up the basket, "Well I thought since it's your birthday and all that we could bring our weapons, polish 'em up, while enjoying this delicious meal", Sakura gave a playful wink, "and have girl time."_

"_Sakura…..that sounds perfect." _

She'd found out a lot about Tenten that day as they sat there in the open field on Sakura's blanket sharing their own stories and secrets. It was so peaceful that day, with the long vibrant grass swaying in the warm breeze. She longed for that blanket now, or some of that peace.

She looked at the person sitting next to Tenten, it was Neji, of course, she wanted to snort.

_Sakura wandered into the Hyuuga compound cursing Ino the whole way. It was all her fault! She had lost a bet with Ino, a bet she still contemplated banging her head against the wall for agreeing to in the first place, but that's what you get when you throw Ino Yamanaka and an extravagant amount of sake into the mix. Bad news. But it was high time to stop thinking about her dubious misfortune, for she was currently looking into the eyes of a completely aloof and slightly impatient Neji._

_Sakura looked at Neji. Neji stared back. Sakura made a ridiculous face. Nothing. He changed nothing in his face._

_It was time for a different approach. _

"_Nice weather we're having here today Neji-san."_

"_It's raining." _

"_You're to quick to judge Neji-san!"_

_An elegant eyebrow rose in response. "Clearly you're mistaken."_

_He was done playing games, it was _**very**___apparent. Time to get down to business._

"_Actually Neji-san, I came here because I have a…favor to ask….," she didn't wait for his response, "I think that your technique is amazing, and I was wondering if you could teach me to spin around so….majestically." the sentence trailed off as Sakura noticed that it had become….quieter._

_The seconds turned minutes but he still had not said anything, the silence was painful. Then, finally-_

"_Are you mocking me." it wasn't a question._

'_Sweet Buddha!!! He's going to kill me!'_

_Sakura looked up in utter dismay and started spewing apologies while waving her hands in the air crying about how it was all Ino's fault, and the sake! Especially the sake._

"_How very…..humorous." Neji gave a slight smirk and stepped out, closing the door behind him. "Let's go then."_

It was the start of a very odd friendship, but one she felt deeply saddened about now that it was shattered.

"Sakura Haruno, do you know why you are here?"

'_NO! No I _don't_ know why I'm here!! Why don't you enlighten me, because those weeks of being tortured didn't clue me in at all!!!"_

But there was nothing funny about this anymore, grim realization set in upon her. If she was found guilty, she would be killed. It was simple really, life and death , guilty and not guilty, but she could already feel the impending doom.

"Haruno Sakura is under the charges of leaving her team during a critical mission, meeting with the missing-nin, Sasuke Uchiha, and providing him with information containing the villages security, possible breaching points, and the location of the daimyo with accurate blue prints."

When you think about it, logically, there was no way that she could possibly be proven innocent. It would be completely unethical if they set her free. Sakura dropped her head and felt her throat close and the familiar sting in her eyes. It was a good run, she congratulated herself….just not good enough. It was never good enough. This feeling was not unfamiliar to her, she was treading the oh so familiar ground of helplessness, inadequacy.

She turned her gaze to Tsunade but could only make out her blond hair as her tears streamed down her face. She could tell Tsunade was at her breaking point as well. The mother figure in her life had every fiber in her in her body tensed, ready to jump across the table and kill someone in a second, but her face was contorted in the attempt to not cry.

"How do you plead?"

The voice was plain, there was no care if she lived or died, it was….emotionless, indifferent.

She was tired of emotionless! It was everywhere, constantly hovering her like a bad memory, like a **scar**. It hurt so much to think that everyone around her had adopted that attitude towards her. It was somewhat understandable thought, they honestly believed that she had betrayed them, their families, and their honor in the worst way.

Sakura took the time to look around the room for the first time and try to calm down. It was bland, paint was peeling in some places, and the table took up over three fourths of the room, but what really caught her eye were four pictures hanging in a row along the bland wall. They were the previous Hokages she realized drearily. She wanted to scoff at them until her eyes landed on the fourth's photograph. The resemblance was striking. She always had a hunch but for some reason it really hit her now.

_They were sitting on a dock after completing a mission in mist. Sakura and Naruto watched as the sun slowly set in the distance, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Kakashi and Sai were elsewhere, tying up lose ends. _

"_I'm still sorry Sakura-chan."_

_Sakura looked over to see Naruto duck his head and clench his hands into fists. It was never really talked about between them anymore, his promise. She felt like, somehow, it was selfish to let him keep believing that he owed it to her._

_She reached out and grabbed one of his fists in both of her hands and gently un curled it. She stared at his hand and vaguely thought about how much he had used them to help other people out, help them reach their own goals, never expecting anything in return. It made her tear up. What had she done for him?_

"…_.You tried…..and that's all that matters, you're just important to me as him Naruto, if I'm stuck with your loud mouth for the rest of my life….then I can't wait." she gave him one of her most heartwarming and truthful smiles through her tears._

"_I want to make a promise to you Naruto….I promise that I'll help you anyway I can to help your dream come true. I want to help in the making of the best Hokage their ever was!"_

_She felt his arms encircle her and felt the moister against her neck. It was one of the most bitter sweet moments she could ever remember having. They continued hugging even after the sun had set._

She stared hard at the 4th's picture, grim determination set into her very bones, slowly overriding her mind.

'This is for your son, I know that he'll be right behind me, all the way, but I don't want it. What I want most….what I want most is to have his dream come true. I want that morons face to be up on that wall too.'

Sakura slowly lifted her head up towards the ceiling, her hands were tied, so she couldn't wipe her tears.

'_I won't let these bastards see me cry, I want to be remembered…and not as the cry baby ninja, but as Haruno Sakura damnit!_

"_Hm," the small sound reverberated across the small room, shocking everyone into silence._

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"_Guilty"._

_Okay yeah cliffy, but that's another word for dedication right?? Ha ha allrighty, I hope that you all get what I mean when Sakura says she's not going to put his dream at risk, cause in this story he's this close *fingers are a millimeter apart* to becoming Hokage. And we all know that he would totally do anything he could to save Sakura, which would of course break all the rules and piss off the Daimyo, and then, well his chances would be…none. So yeah. IT IS YOUR REVIEWS THAT KEEP THIS STORY GOING!! Tell your friends, mom, dogs, even Pete from down the street about this story!!! GAH._


	3. Fighting

_**There is basically no excuse for the lateness of this…I own nothing and I still need a beta, thanks and**_

_**REVIEW!!**_

_**Team No More**_

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Fighting**_

_It was as if I uttered magic words or something, the whole room went ballistic. If there were papers around, they would have gone up in a flurry._

_Time seemed to stop as I closed my mouth, the words took what felt like forever and no time at all to register on everyone, because in that same instant the anbu were on me. _

_I looked toward Tsunade, she had the most peculiar look on her face. I'll never be able to describe the look she gave me when I said that, and I didn't want to think about it. _

_She was completely slack-jawed, her arms dangled like vines from a tree. She couldn't comprehend. I knew as soon as she regained composure that she would do something crazy, and I couldn't have that! That wouldn't do at all, I was signing away my life for that boy and his dream, and she played the second most important part to it happening._

"_Tsunade-shishou!!", I shouted. She had to listen, she had _to. "I've done my part, you have to make sure his dream comes true, it _has_ to come true. Make it come true damnit!"

She looked up at me then, finally. The pride in her eyes let me know that she was truly proud of me, that even though I would tarnish her name for the rest of her life, she didn't care. She knew and she cared, and suddenly, it was all okay. For as long as I can remember, I have been protected. I was always watching their backs, Naruto, Sasuke, the rest of our friends. Nobody helped me. Kakashi definitely chose favorites, and even though he chose Sasuke, he still went and searched for a teacher for Naruto. He didn't even bother with me. Probably because he thought I was more interested in Sasuke, the name brought a bitter taste to my mouth, but Tsunade did, enough to say yes to me when even I knew I was hopeless.

I think that it's okay if the one person that is proud of me is the only one who cares.

To me…that's enough.

I was just Sakura and she was just Tsunade. I was the student and she was teacher. And that was the best time I've ever had in my life. Though she did sometimes slap me upside the head with the dead fish that I couldn't save…

I turned towards her, even as they were yanking me out of the room.

That woman meant so much to me, she was more than a Hokage, she was my mother, my older sister.

"….I", I was choking on emotions. "I have so much to tell you."

We stood there gazing at each other, everybody else in the room ceased to exist. I could see all the hells she put me through, I could see her patting my head and mumbling a "That's my girl" in praise with a wistful smile and faraway look in her eyes. It was a wonderful story, and it was coming to a bitter end.

She looked back at me then, really looked at me, like she knew everything I was thinking. The faraway look was gone. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and answered me.

"I know, Sakura, there are things that people will never be able to understand, and I believe that you and him are one of them. Kunoichi are the best Sakura, do you know why?"

"Because we are superb in everything?"

It made us both smile, something we desperately needed.

"No, because we're so good at proving people wrong."

She had said the words that I wanted to hear. That this wasn't all for nothing. That I could help something good come to the very village that was about to condemn me to death.

But that was okay, because they both believed me and loved me, and that was all I really ever wanted. That was all I really needed. To be loved and believed in, to tell you the truth, I think that that's what everybody wants.

I wanted to touch her one last time, something to take with me. But the anbu wouldn't let me budge. The daimyo began to grow nervous and gave the anbu their order to take me out. They looked towards Danzou and that stupid bastard nodded his stupid head and I glared daggers in his direction. Tsunade tried to make her way to me but that was not on the anbu's 'to do list'.

To bad for them though, because it was on mine.

I was Haruno Sakura! Apprentice of Tsunade, _the _Tsunade! I had been playing by their rules and their games my entire life, but I was done. I gathered what little chakra that had replenished into my body, which was basically nothing, and lunged forward. Tsunade met me and grabbed my shoulders. She gave me a cheeky grin and ruffled my hair one last time before I was ripped away. My exhausted arms immediately began lashing out at my attackers, doing no good to hinder the anbu in anyway but to show that I would not go down without a fight.

Swearing wasn't really my thing, besides the usual outbursts of 'hell' and 'damn'. That was usually it for me and how colorful my language got. But this was different, and I wanted them to _know_ how I felt. Hey, why not, I would never see these people again.

"Rot, you disgusting assholes! Damnit, I hope you all see my face when you lie in your bed tonight!"

The anbu were more determined now than ever to remove my _offending_ presence from the room. One grabbed my hair and began yanking me back harshly, I couldn't fight back, I was completely drained, both chakra and energy. But I knew that I couldn't just give up either, because when you're associated with Naruto, giving up doesn't really stand as an option for you anymore.

We were scuffling all the way down the hall. The sad thing is that I probably knew some of them. I was a Jounin at seventeen and had met a lot of people through all my training and errand running for Tsunade. I looked out the window as they pulled me, screaming and kicking the whole way, and vaguely realized that it had started raining, figures.

I knew where they were taking me, the holding cells. Until a date was set for an execution the prisoners were held in these dingy, grimy, small cells. They were cold and uncomfortable, made to brake the prisoner, and it was the place where I would spend the last moments of my life, with someone watching me at all times.

The finality of it all would be gut-wrenching. I didn't want it to end like this, between me and these people that I had grown close to over the years, through tough times, missions, and promotion celebrations at the pub. They still meant so much to me, even though they had just partaken in my very extermination. Maybe it was shock, maybe they just didn't know what to say. Mumbling these lies to myself did nothing to put me at ease, they believed I had betrayed them, and now they were returning the favor.

It was because they didn't know who to believe.

As a shinobi, trust usually did not exist. Trusting another shinobi was said to be as good as painting a target onto one's back.

I guess that was why this affected me so much. We were Konoha, a village I thought was better than that.

I suddenly felt an incredible depression settle upon me. My home was just like every other village. But I had always believed that in a way, ours was better…cleaner.

Happier…

One of the anbu left his current position of flanking me and marched with the usual 'anbu air' towards the cell door

I knew that once I stepped through the threshold I would be closed off from the world, the only path out led to my death.

The cells were sound proof and had a buzzing yellow-green fluorescent light on the ceiling. It was drafty and completely uninviting. And have I mentioned that it was going to be my temporary home?

But I could get satisfaction from one thing.

I was about to scare the shit out of those anbu assholes.

See, for the past three minutes or so I've been discreetly sucking in air, ready to scream for all that my life was worth. This was necessary because if you had to suck in the air all at once the anbu would have ample time to silence you before you even made a sound.

But I had something that needed to be taken care of, and I never leave lose ends.

So I opened my mouth and screamed.

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"NARUTO!!!!"

**Okay, good stuff there right? Sorry if it seems like to you guys that my chapters are short, I guess I just prefer having a lot of chapters, albeit short. That's the plan. I really don't know about the length of this story, or if it is possible for a sequel. That all really depends on you guys. Your thoughts and reviews are what keep this story going. So, spread the love guys XD. That should be it for a while with the really emotional confrontations, except not really. **

**REVIEW!!!!**


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